The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 11 March 1823
“March 11th.
“I send you herewith Brougham’s dispatch which I received yesterday. I had
charity enough for him not to shew it to any one but Sefton, and he quite agrees with me that he is mad. His lunacy, you may
![]()
![]()
| 66 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. III. |
![]()
plainly see, is to be in power. He cannot endure for a
moment anything or any man he thinks can by possibility obstruct his march. He
has himself entirely spiked his guns in the House of Commons; he has put it at
Canning’s feet, and then he is
raving in the country that Hume should
presume to open his mouth without his (Brougham’s)
permission.”
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)
Secretary of the Admiralty (1810) and writer for the
Quarterly
Review; he edited an elaborate edition of Boswell's
Life of
Johnson (1831).
Sir John Davie, eighth baronet (1772-1803)
The son of the seventh baronet (d. 1792); educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, he was
High Sheriff of Devon in 1802.
Joseph Hume (1777-1855)
After service in India he became a radical MP for Weymouth (1812), Aberdeen (1818-30,
1842-55), Middlesex (1830-37), and Kilkenny (1837-41); he was an associate of John Cam
Hobhouse and a member of the London Greek Committee. Maria Edgeworth: “Don't like him
much; attacks all things and persons, never listens, has no judgment.”
Barry Edward O'Meara (1770 c.-1836)
Naval surgeon who attended Napoleon on St. Helena; after his dismissal he published works
critical of the government, including
Napoleon in Exile: a Voice from St
Helena, 2 vols (1822).
Frances Ann Taylor [née Vane] (d. 1835)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1729–1794); in 1789 she
married the politician Michael Angelo Taylor.
Michael Angelo Taylor (1757 c.-1834)
Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was MP (1784-34) for a variety of
constituencies; originally a Tory he gravitated to the Whigs over the course of his long
career.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
